


Human Customs

by Neiroel



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 05:12:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7999861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neiroel/pseuds/Neiroel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lord Elrond and his advisor Erestor are invited to a human village to attend a council meetinng. The meeting is interrupted and both Elves are placed into mortal peril.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Customs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aglarien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aglarien/gifts).



> This was requested by Aglarien, I hope you enjoy it and that the story is how you imagined it :)  
> English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistakes :]

It was a human custom that kings, leaders or generally important people's food was tasted by servants to make sure that there was no poison in the food.  
When Erestor first saw this while he and his lord Elrond where visiting a human village for negotiations he could not really understand why this was done.  
Other humans from other villages saw Erestor's confused look but did not react. A small scruffy looking advisor was seated next to Erestor:

“You did not taste your lord's food.”, he stated with a rough voice.

Erestor looked at him, the human seemed to be 50 years of age, had a short beard, messy brown hair with grey streaks and sharp brown eyes.

“No, I didn't. You seem surprised at that.”

“Yes I am, you see I have never met a lord who did not want his food being tasted first. There is always the possibility of being poison in the food. Especially in these big gatherings.”

“It is not something that elves deem necessary”, replied Erestor and shrugged, “Elves are very resistant to poisons and tend to notice quickly when something is wrong. In the time that I have been living and travelling, I have never seen an elf dying because of poisoned food. Especially not in their own homes.”

“But, dear advisor, we are not in your treasured elvish home. Perhaps you should be more careful, not all humans are kind, you elves are just too naive sometimes.”

He shook his head and continued eating.  
Erestor secretly glared at him, this human had the audacity to inform him, an Elf, who had lived hundreds of years, of the dangers of being poisoned?  
What would the human do next? Correct his use of grammar and pronunciation in Sindarin?

They spent the rest of the meal in tense silence, after the dishes were put away, Elrond stood up and looked at Erestor. He motioned to follow him to his rooms.

What both of them did not notice was a dark clothed servant, who had stood a few meters behind Erestor in the shadow during the meal, he quickly left the hall in the opposite direction now.

Just after the had arrived in Elrond's assigned quarters, Erestor had started raging about the advisor sitting next to him.  
“Can you believe the audacity?”…  
“Next time I will teach him who of the both of us knows about the dangers of life”…

Elrond only half listened, the negotiations were exhausting and he yearned for his own bed in his own quiet home.

“Erestor, my love, do not waste your breath on the advisor. He was just trying to help.”

He drew the raging advisor in a tight embrace.

“If you say so. I hope that we can go home soon. Something about this village makes me nervous.”

He drew his hands up to stroke Elrond's soft hair.

“Tomorrow is the last meeting if we are lucky we can depart in the late afternoon. But I understand what you mean, everyone is so cautious of any attack that oneself is getting worried. I have never met any humans who were so scared of attackers."

Elrond sighed and let go of Erestor to slump down in a very unlordly manner in a comfortable chair.  
He closed his eyes:

“I am tired, Erestor. I really hope that we can go home tomorrow.”

“I should leave you then, Meleth. Sleep well”, he put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

“You look like you needed”, he added, mirth shining in his dark eyes.  
He didn't want to leave but the humans had given them two separate rooms and they did not want to make their blooming relationship public just yet.

“Erestor!”, Elrond glared at him, “I very much hope for you that you dusted your room, and that the dark circles under your eyes are the remains of that dust. Or maybe the human children were bored and wanted someone to play a raccoon which they could chase around the city. I understand why they chose you, you make a good raccoon.”

Now it was Erestor's time to glare:

“I fear, love, that you have become delirious because of the lack of sleep and are now imagining things. I will leave you to your imagination...and please don't ever talk about raccoons with me.” With a grin he leaned in to give him a sweet kiss then turned and quickly left the room.  
“Sleep well, my raccoonish lover."

The last meeting was, just as Erestor had expected, tiring.  
There were discussions about petty little things that did not even concern the elves. No one seemed to agree with each other and finding a compromise to which everyone would agree was harder than Erestor had thought.

He looked over at Elrond and saw resignation in his eyes. Elrond was annoyed too, he just hoped that Elrond wad going to settle this quickly. Elrond was about to speak up when the door flew open and an angry human lord walked in.  
At his side was an advisor clad in dark clothes. Both of them had cold cruel eyes and just looking at them made Erestor shiver. Glorfindel often teased Erestor about his cold behaviour around the court but compared to those Erestor felt like the sunshine.  
He exchanged a quick glance with Elrond. Those two would most likely mean trouble.

As soon as the two newcomers were seated, the discussions were over and a compromise was quickly found, too quickly to last for a long time, Erestor noted but that was not his concern.  
He was curious about what the new members of the discussion had to demand.

He did not have to wait long, only after a short break, in which food and drinks were served, the human lord stood up. The noise died down and everyone looked at him expectantly:

“I am Lord Helech from the city Sigend.”

Erestor discreetly looked at Elrond again and rose an eyebrow, the latter shrugged slightly and looked and Helech again. Both had never heard of a city called Sigend.

“I have heard that many lords and some ladies from settlements in this area were meeting here to discuss politics, trading and relationships between us, so I thought I would drop by and say hello.”

He looked at Erestor and Elrond and he smirked slightly:

“I see that you have managed to convince the elusive Elves to join your little council. Well done.”, he approached and bowed slightly, “Who am I supposed to speak to? You Elves all looked the same to me, all arrogant and holding their nose up high.”

Elrond stood up and returned the small bow:

“Elrond of Rivendell my name. This here,” he mentioned towards Erestor with his hand, “Is my advisor Erestor.”

Erestor too stood up and forced himself to bow.

“Similar names as well, hmm? You Elves are weird. How are we to tell you to apart?”,

Helech said and went back to his seat on the other side of the room.  
Erestor couldn't help being offended but he could not protest, he would disgrace his lord's and his own name and that truly wasn't worth it.

When they came to the requests, Helech and his advisor seemed to listen closely. The Elves offered to help with an Orc problem a village close to the Misty Mountains, the human had a devious grin on his face when he looked at his advisor.  
That was when Erestor felt more than alarmed. The two should never even have been allowed to enter the room and join them without anyone knowing them or the city they came from.

Heleth raised his arm and began speaking: 

“I actually am in need of help as well. It is embarrassing to admit, but our harvest this year fell a bit short and we do not have enough food to feed everyone. If you could be so kind to give us some? I do not want anyone to starve, especially not the children”, his voice sound sickly sweet and both elves were disgusted by the fake kindness.

The council leader nodded and stood up:

“I fear that my town is not able to help a lot, however I am sure that if we all give away some of the food in our storages, you will have enough to last the winter. Who is going to help and give away some of their food in their storages?”

About two thirds of the people in the room raised their hand, that meant two thirds agreed to the proposal and that two thirds actually believed the stupid story.  
A young, blond and quite naive looking human noticed that neither Elrond nor Erestor were raising their hand. 

“Why aren't you going to help? You Elves probably have enough food to last several winters, you are the ones who could afford to help most, why aren’t you?”

That made many other humans look at them angrily. Sentences like:  
“Yes why aren’t you helping?”, “That is just typical Elvish fashion to abandon friends just like that.”, “Of course they don't help they have know idea what it is like to starve.”  
Erestor looked at Elrond who looked at him.  
One look told him everything he needed to know, he stood up and looked at everyone with a stern look on his face:

“If you have not noticed, a few minutes ago we agreed to help some of you with an Orc problem because we trust and know you. In regards to the manner discussed mere seconds ago, do you really think that we would agree to give food and aid to someone who interrupts a meeting. No one here knows them or even recognizes the town they are from. We both do not trust them and do not wish to support them without knowing more about them.”

“What are you still doing here then, if you do not wish to support anyone? I would like the two of you gone from this meeting right now!”, an older looking human demanded.

Loud voices were raised many of them demanding either the leader of the meeting or the lord of the city they were having the meeting in to throw the two elves out of the meeting or city altogether.  
That was when Elrond stood up and laid his hand on Erestor, who was about to defend them.

“Thank you for your hospitality but I am afraid we must really leave now.”

The Elves quickly left the room and went to the rooms they had been assigned to to pack their belongings. Neither of them wanted to stay much longer and home just seemed a lot more tempting then it already had on the last evening.

They were on their way home when Erestor suddenly felt uneasy. They had left the humans all alone with that creepy slimy git and they had no idea what else he was going to do. When he voiced his concern to his lord the latter shook his head and sighed:

“There is nothing we can do now. They did not heed our warnings and they will have to deal with the consequences. Never the less, we will have to send out guards to check on them regularly to ensure that truly no one is going to be hurt. They have thrown us out how the city, however we can't just leave them alone to their fate. We both know the something is seriously wrong and I could not live with myself knowing that I could have done anything to save them.”

Erestor nodded, he agreed fully with what he said just not with what he planned to do:

“Why don't we try to find the village he claimed to be from and if we can find it and his claims are indeed true, then we will apologize and help them in any way that we can.”

“That is a good idea, Erestor, I will organize a search troop as soon as we get home. You are right but we should be very cautious, I am not sure what they will do if they realize that we are spying on them.”

Erestor nodded and then noticed the sky. The white clouds had been chased away by darker bigger more threatening looking clouds.

"Beloved, it is going to rain soon.”

“Yes indeed it looks like quite a storm is brewing.”

It started to rain, first softly and then so hard that they both pulled their hoods deep into their faces and spend the rest of their journey home in silence. An hour away from Rivendell the wind began to pick up and soon their hoods were blown from their heads and leaves and little sticks were blown into their faces.

“We need to hurry!”,Elrond shouted against the wind, “The wind is getting stronger and we need to arrive in Rivendell within the hour or we won't be save against the storm!”

Erestor looked at him panicked. The thought of being left alone to fend against the cruel grasp of the storm was frightening enough but Elrond being stuck in this weather was absolutely terrifying.

Lighting began to part the clouds and thunder growled loudly. He urged his horse to run faster, when they were only a few minutes away from sanctuary when Erestor realized: Elrond was no longer riding beside him, he looked over his shoulder to see if his was there but he could not see his lord, not even far away in the distance.  
His fears had become true! He turned his horse around and rode back, searching.

 

Pain. Pain was the first thing Elrond felt when he tried to open his eyes.  
What had happened? Bright light was blinding him and he groaned. He tried to open his eyes again and was greeted by darkness his eyes slowly adjusted to the light or rather the lack of light.

Suddenly something bright flashed and he closed his eyes again. The tell-tale rumbling of thunder that follow explained a lot as did the panicked neigh of a horse.  
He opened his eyes again and looked around, he had fallen onto the floor but how, he was riding on his horses back only moments ago.  
Another bright lightning flashed through the sky and his horse reared up and stomped around in panic

This was bad, it was really bad, he had to get up now and calm his horse or risk getting stomped to death. He tried to prop himself up with his arms but a stabbing pain shot through his right arm he cruel out and fell back on his back. His head swam as he opened his eyes again to find out what was causing this sudden pain. He could not see much in the dark but from the way his right arm was twisted it was not hard to conclude that it was broken.  
Great, he thought and slowly got to his feet.

He calmed his horse and slowly slid on its back. It walked very slowly as not to hustle its rider too much but its rider did not notice much any more rhythmic steps of the horse had lulled Elrond to sleep.

 

Erestor had been searching for a long time and it got darker as night approached. His eyes filled with tears when he realised, that continuing to search alone without any light in this darkness would not even help a little, he rode back to Rivendell.  
He couldn't stop thinking of how his lover was freezing alone without anyone to care for him. The storm reminded him of the time they had admitted their feelings to each other. 

Erestor had admired his Lord in secret for a long time but kept his feelings hidden. He was a lot older and he felt it wouldn't be proper. Besides Elrond was his Lord and nothing could ever happen between them.  
A few weeks ago Imladris was tormented by a series of storms, the last one had blown parts of the roof off and trees had been broken.  
Another storm like this and Imladris would be completely destroyed.  
So when the next storm announced itself many people in Rivendell were panicked. When the first winds were shaking the house, Elrond abruptly stopped writing the letter he had been working on and left the room.

The storm had not come that day and Elrond was no where to be seen for the rest of the day. When Elrond had not even come to the evening meal, Erestor grew worried and began searching. He found Elrond on the balcony of the library, staring at the sky. His hands gripped tightly at the rails and he had a light frown on his face.

Elrond had used the ring to keep the storm at bay but it had utterly exhausted him. Erestor had to carry his Lord back to his rooms, feed him and help him bath. After he had put his Lord to bed the confession of love left his lips and they both had spend the night together and every night that followed.

Erestor was shook out of his memories by the loud sound of thunder. In a few moments he would be in Rivendell. After arriving he alerted the guards and organized a search party for Elrond.

He sat down on a bench and breathed deeply. Elrond would be found and he would be alright. His lord would not be dead would return.

Glorfindel quietly sat down next to him:

“Erestor, you need to rest, you are exhausted and you can't help when you are falling asleep where you are sitting!”

“Sorry.”, he whispered quietly and looked at his hands. They were trembling slightly, he balled his fists. “It is my fault. I should not have ridden ahead, I should have, should have….”

He buried his head in his hands and sobbed.

“Erestor it is not you're fault, the storm was strong and you both have only concentrated making it to Rivendell safely. Come, my friend, a bath has been prepared for you and food shall be brought to your rooms so you can rest and calm down. We will find Elrond, you'll have your lover back."

He took Erestor's hand and dragged him to his rooms.

The kitchens were in uproar. The news of their lord being lost alone in the woods had spread quickly and the cooks prepared food for the ones searching and the ones being awake preparing the halls for the worse.

A young servant girl was giving the food which was meant to be brought to Erestor. On her way to his rooms and human clad in dark clothes ran into her and dropped the books he was carrying. Embarrassed she quickly sat the tray with the food aside and helped him gather his things. He looked interestedly at the tray of food and then back at her:

“Why do you carry food around? Aren't there halls for that?”

“Yes”, she answered meekly, “But this is for lord Erestor he just arrived home after having an accident so we do everything that we can to ensure he can rest comfortably.”

“You Elves are very kind, what are you serving him today? Bread with..with vegetable soup sounds tasty.”

He picked up his books and walked down the hallway.  
She looked after him with a confused look on his face then shook her head and continued walking to Erestor's rooms.  
He was in the bath when she entered so she just placed the tray on a table near by and knocked on the bathroom door:

“My lord, I brought you food.”

“Yes thank you, you can take your leave now.”, was the only answer she got from him that night.

Erestor lay in the bath and sighed, the hot water was slowly easing the tension out of his aching muscles and began to think more positively of the situation. Yes Elrond was missing and probably lost and hurt but they would find him, the people in Imladris loved their lord almost as much as he loved him and they would leave no stone unturned if that meant that they'd find him.

After he had finished bathing and got dressed in his night robe he left the bath chamber and discovered the soup that had been left for him. Only when he smelled the delicious soup he realized how hungry he really was. Without hesitating he gulped down the soup ate the bread and drank some water. Afterwards he was more than exhausted and went to bed, falling asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillows.

Elrond woke in the middle of the night. He had a terrible headache and the dizzy feeling had not gotten better. He looked around and realized that he did not at all know where he was.  
“Where have you brought us?” He asked and stroked through his horses mane, “We need to go home and not on a different journey, don't you know that?”  
It was still raining and Elrond felt cold, he was soaked through and had no way of finding home, it was too dark and no stars could be seen.

“Lets find a shelter then”, he sighed and got of the horses back.

Nearby he found a small cave in which both Elrond and the horse would fit. He shivered and cursed the weather, the wood was far too wet to make a fire and the water made the wind feel even colder than it already was.  
He snuggled up to his horse and tried to get as warm as possible. Both horse and rider fell asleep quickly.

 

The night passed quickly and Erestor woke up, his mouth was dry and his eyes hurt. It was hard to breathe and his eyes did not seem to be able to focus.

He shivered.

It was cold.

Or was it hot?

He felt incredibly cold but was sweating profusely. He knew that something was definitely not right. He shot up and immediately felt nauseous, his stomach lurched and he doubled over.  
Please don’t be sick, please don't be sick, please don't be sick, he thought over and over.

That however did not work and only seconds later, the world became blurry and he dropped too his knees and threw up on the floor. He panicked not knowing what was wrong with him, he could not get sick, he was not a human he could not get sick so why was he throwing up?

“Help, help!”, he croaked but no one came.

He dragged himself to the door and pulled on the door handle and fell on the floor. A loud thud sounded as he fell to the floor and he groaned.

“Lord Erestor? Lord Erestor are you alright? What is happening?”, a servant bowed down to him and touched his forehead, “He is burning up, get the healer!”

Tinar, the chief healer ran towards them, Erestor was fading in and out of consciousness, sweat was running down his face and he was groaning in pain.

Tinar looked at him grimly and felt Erestor's pulse: “He has been poisoned.”  
A crowd had formed around them, at Tinar's diagnosis a hush went over the crowd and everyone exchanged worried looks.

“Will you be able to cure him?”, someone asked.

“It depends on what he has been poisoned with, to find that out I will have to examine him fully so please clear the way we need to get him to the healing wing as quickly as possible.”

The Elves scurried away like rats in the light and soon the hallways was clear. Erestor was put on a stretcher and brought to the healing wing.  
Tinar wrote every symptom he could identify down, even examined Erestor's blood to find out with what substance he had been poisoned but none of the usual poisons had been used.

He commanded his assistance to treat the symptoms while he was researching in the library.

 

Elrond woke when the first sunbeams warmed his face. It had finally stopped raining and the sky was clearing. The only sign of the storm the night before was the huge water puddles on the forest floor. Elrond swallowed, his throat was aching, and he still felt dizzy.

He stroked his horse's coat: “Come my friend we need to go”, he winced at the sound of his voice, speaking hurt his throat even more.

“It is dangerous to stay here alone without food or dry clothes and a blanket for you.”, he rasped.

Elrond limped out of the cave and hoped his horse would follow him. He had no energy for a discussion that would go on for a long time.

“Come on please!”, he had to lean against a tree so he would not fall down. If horse was going to be stubborn now, he could not even walk home!

Luckily for him the animal slowly walked out of the cave and nuzzled his face  
.  
“Thank you.”, Elrond said, he threw his arms around it's neck and hugged it all the while supporting himself on the strong animal.

He had some difficulties mounting but once he sat on his horse it was easier for him. He looked up to the sky to see the sun high in the sky. It had to be midday, he had slept for a long time, which was definitely not a good sign for his health.

In the sun light he could easily find his way back to the right path, even with his blurry vision.  
His headache had become stronger and he was doing his best not to fall asleep again, he had to stay awake or his horse would run into the wrong direction again.

He sneezed once, twice, his nose was running. He knew now what his ailments were: broken arm, a concussion and to top that off a cold, it was even possible that he had light hypothermia.

Although he was close to Rivendell he felt like he was in more danger then he had ever been in this area. He would probably be in less danger if he was to sit on a tree shouting:

'Here I am Orcsies come and get me I don’t have a weapon with me and I taste great!'

At least the Orcs might think he was insane or lying and would not dare to approach but now he was just an easy, too easy target.

 

Tinar had searched for a long time but he would not find a cure. He had found the poison with which Erestor had most likely been poisoned, all the symptoms matched, the only problem was that he could not find a cure in the public library. 

Elrond had to know what was to do but he too was not to be found. The search troops had set out a few hours ago but had not yet returned, Glorfindel himself was the leader of the main troop. Elrond had to be found, if he wasn't they would have lost two lords in one night.

Erestor was completely unconscious now and he was having light seizures every 30 minutes and the healers were despairing, there was nothing they could do to help.

 

Elrond had lost track of time, he tried to be aware of his surroundings in case he would cross paths with some with ill intend but that soon proofed to be an impossible task.

He looked up suddenly as he heard the crunching of leaves, steps his mind supplied sluggishly. He saw figures approaching but he could not identify the silhouette, we was beginning to sunk into the warm fuzzy embrace of unconsciousness.

Stay awake, you have to stay awake, he thought to himself and forced his eyes open.

Blonde long hair came into his vision, he felt hands gripping his shoulders tightly: “My lord, can you hear me?”, a low kind voice asked.

“Glorfindel?”, Elrond rasped back.

“Yes, my friend I am here. Come you are needed at home, Erestor has been poisoned.”

“What Erestors has been what?”, Elrond asked confused, he wasn’t sure if he had heard correctly.

“He has been poisoned.”,Glorfindel mustered him up and down, felt his temperature and then shook his head worriedly, “We have to get you back to Rivendell you are burning up!”

“I know, my arm is broken as well”, Elrond replied with a silly smile on his face, “I cant feel the pain any more now, that could be the work of the concussion,”

Shocked Glorfindel looked him in the eyes. The half-elf was delirious with fever as bad as that was on its own, Elrond could not make an antidote it this state.

He lifted the lord on his horse carefully and rode with him back to Rivendell. He was bought to the halls of Healing immediately and tended to.

Only half an hour Elrond woke again, his arm had been set and a white bandage covered his head. His fever had sunken to a level that was not life threatening and his body was warmed by many blankets.

Tinar sat at his bedside, head on his arms.

“Tinar”, Elrond croaked, “Where is Erestor?”

“My lord, he has been poisoned but I cant find an antidote! I have search in the entire library but there was no mention of a cure in the books I found.”

“So you have identified the poison?”,Elrond winced his throat was raw and it hurt to speak.

“Yes it is made out of the root of the Giften plant which is growing close to the Misty Mountains.”

“I have to see Erestor now, I wont know what cure to administer if I don’t see in which state he is in now.”

Tinar began to protest but Elrond could not be swayed no one could stop him, delaying for even a moment longer could mean the death of his lover! He got up and walked to Erestor's room, which was only two doors to the right from the room he had been placed in.

When he saw Erestor he swallowed. He was far gone and Elrond was not sure if he could make a cure strong enough to heal him.

“Oh my love, I am so sorry.” He put his hands on his forehead and send a small amount of healing energy through his body.

“Hold on there I will help you, I promise, Meleth, just hold on for two more hours.”

He kissed Erestor forehead and walked into the corner of the room in which medicines were made.

“How could I not find an antidote for this particular poison?” Tinar asked, curious.

“To make the poison a large piece of the Giften root is used. To make an antidote a small part of the root and a leaf of the plant are used. If done wrong this 'antidote' could be just as poisonous. To avoid people cooking wrong antidotes I have not written the recipe for the cure in a book available to the public. It is in a small book in my study, if you are searching for cures you should always look in that book first.”

While he was talking he had cut herbs and boiled water. He proceeded to make the antidote that Erestor now desperately needed. In only one and a half hours he had made the antidote and took a cup filled with the dark liquid to Erestor.

“It is too hot and will burn his throat but we can't wait any longer.”, Elrond sighed and set the cup to Erestor's lips. In moments like these Elrond was more than glad of the swallow reflex. Slowly the cup was drained and then another and another.

“Now we can only wait.”, Elrond sighed yet again and sat down on a chair next to Erestor's bed.

“My lord, you need to rest.” Tinar tried meekly but Elrond cut him off by lifting his hand:

“What I need to do is sit right here and monitor his condition and help when I need to.”

Tinar backed down knowing he could not argue with Elrond over this matter Elrond was protective of his lover and even Tinar could not convince his to something once his lover was in danger.

The hours passed and Erestor's breathing became deeper, his heart rate slower and his fever sunk.  
His eyelids even fluttered from time to time but when they did, Elrond would lift his hand to Erestor's forehead and send him back to a deep healing sleep.

“Trust me, Meleth-nin, you do not want to wake up not, let your body recover first. I don’t want to imagine the headache you would have if you'd wake up now.”, Elrond smiled and planted a small kiss on Erestor's hand which he had been holing since he sat down. 

It became night, Elrond's head had sunken on the bed and he was fast asleep. In the middle of the of the night Erestor awoke to find the soundly sleeping half-elf at his bedside, he could not believe his eyes and shook Elrond awake to see if he was truly at his side or just another figment of his imagination.

Elrond woke up and looked around, dazed: “What? Erestor?”

“Elrond, thank the Valar you are back! I was worried!”, he gripped Elrond's arms tightly as to hold him to he would not disappear. Elrond almost shouted in pain and flinched, pain was cursing through his broken arm.

“I am sorry! What happened?”, Erestor let go immediately and took a closer look at Elrond. He saw the white bandage on his head and arm and suddenly also noticed his pale complexion and fever flushed cheeks.

Elrond told Erestor everything he remembered and knew about his and Erestor's condition, how he had woken up alone in the forest and had been discovered by Glorfindel, woken up in the Healing wing again and finally had found Erestor on the brink of death before crafting the strongest antidote he had ever created and feeding it to him. After he finished he mustered Erestor for a while and then asked:

“How are you feeling?”

Erestor paused for a moment and closed his eyes:  
“Well considering what you just told me, I feel great. I have a headache, my throat and stomach still ache but I am sure that will pass soon.”

Elrond agreed and suddenly yawned.  
That made Erestor chuckle:  
“Come, nin-ind, lay down beside me. There is enough space for both of us in this bed and we both need the rest.”

Elrond smiled and carefully lay down beside Erestor. The latter gathered the sick half-elf in his arms and stroked his hair.

"Sleep now love I've got you."

Both slowly recovered from their injuries, the people in Rivendell calmed down and after both felt strong enough, they decided to spend the evening in the Hall of Fire.

They sat at the fire place with a glass of rich red wine in their hands. Their faces were illuminated by the flames, both had a distant look on their faces.

“Who do you think poisoned me?”, Erestor finally asked and looked at Elrond.

“I am not sure”, he answered, “But I do have an idea. We will know more after we searched the outskirts of the misty mountains for that village.”

Erestor nodded. He too had been very suspicious but did not want to voice his opinions out lot.

“I will send out patrols tomorrow and then we will see. I just hope that if they really were planning to do something horrible to our human allies, they did not have the time to yet.”

They spent the rest of the evening brooding and were soon sent to bed by Tinar. Much to their annoyance.  
True to his word, Elrond send out his best men to search for a small village with starving inhabitants. They came back two days later dragging two men with them. The two were brought in front of Elrond and Erestor.

Elrond instantly recognized them, they were Lord Helech and his advisor. They looked like they had been dragged through Mordor, their clothes were dirty and some parts were ripped. Both men looked haggard, Helech had a dangerous look on his face.

Helech snarled at them, especially Elrond. The half-elf politely ignored him and asked calmly:

“We decided to heed your urgent request and send some food to your starving people. Imagine our surprise when we found no village called Sigend and the villages we did find already had Lords and Ladies, the people were well fed and no one had ever heard of you two.  
We were even more surprised to find you two unconscious next to a small battle field. Please enlighten us, what exactly were you planing to do after you had received the rations?”

Helech stubbornly met Elrond's eyes and grinned at him. “I am sorry to disappoint you, my dear lord Elrond, but you shall never know.”

His advisor looked conflicted and looked up from the floor to meet Elrond's eyes.  
Then suddenly he started speaking as fast as he possibly could:  
“We would have killed the people bringing food, gone with the food to a rich village and distracted the people while robbing them. If anyone had suspicions we would have killed them.”

Helech turned his gaze on his advisor’s, his eyes were filled with fury. 

"How dare you, you failure could not even do one job right! How is it that that scum of a Lord is still alive? You don't deserve being left alive. You don't deserve the mercy that I have offered you."

"I did what you asked of me! Helech, please!"

"No. I have decided. Goodbye you awful servant."

He drew a hidden dagger out of his boot and slit the other humans throat in on fluid movement.   
He gurgled, blood was flowing out of the wound, he looked at the elves with wide eyes and fell to his knees. 

The Elves were quick to react, Glorfindel restrained Helech and dragged him into a different room. Elrond caught the advisor before he fell to the floor.   
He shook his head as he saw that the human was beyond saving, he was so close to death. His skin was ashen, his lips blue. The only thing that looked alive about him were his eyes. They were panicked, desperately searching for something to hold on to, something to reassure him before passing. 

"Calm down.", Elrond whispered, "It is alright, you have redeemed yourself, my friend. You will pass on in peace, knowing that you prevented something horrible."

Blood was pooling on the floor soaking robes and carpet, quiet, desperate gasps were the only sound in the room.

"I-I-I-I'm s-orr-y..." The adviser gurgled. It seemed like he wanted to say more butt the light left his eyes and his last breath left his lips.   
Elrond smiled sadly and closed the dead humans eyes. 

"Rest in peace now. Valar, have mercy on his soul."

Erestor interrupted the silence: "He might have planned evil things with that human Helech but he was in no way evil."

Elrond nodded and seemed to consider something:   
"I would like to give him a proper burial. He has saved many with his courageous deed and deserves a reward for that."

"I'll tell the servants to take him to the house of healing so his body can be prepared. You should find Glorfindel and talk to the alleged Lord. We will need more information to insure that this won't happen again."

-"I know, Erestor, I know.", Elrond coughed closed his eyes, wincing.

"Love you should be more careful you're still sick. ", Erestor put his head on Elrond's forehead, "you still have a slight fever and that cough doesn't sound good either. You should rest more."

-"okay, mother hen, let me do my work first." Elrond shook his head, although he was touched by the concern, Erestor could really annoy him at times.   
"I love you!", he shouted after him and Erestor chuckled. 

When Elrond came into the room where Helech was held, he was greeted by the man's malicious grin. He sat on a chair, his hands tied to the armrests so he wouldn't be able do harm anyone.

"Poor young man isn't he? All dead now and where he is now I do not want to know. That man has done so many awful things...your precious gods really must hate him now."

"What he has done is nothing compared to your deeds, Helech. Now, don't play around. You are going to be punished, how is depending on your cooperation."

"Soooo elven lord, what do you wish for me to do?", Helech sat back in the chair and mustered the Lord. Elrond didn't answer and met his eyes stoically. He did not want to waste his breath on then human. 

Helech sighed: "Fine. Untie my hands and I will tell you what you want to know."

Elrond turned to Glorfindel:"Please, Glorfindel…"

Glorfindel interrupted him:"My lord you really should not, he is dangerous!"

"Glorfindel you know your duties. Please untie him now."

Glorfindel did as he was told and carefully watched Helech. One of his duties was that he had to protect his lord no matter what happened. This meant having to kill Helech if he threatened to kill Elrond.

When the ropes were untied, Helech rubbed his wrists and sighed. 

"Finally. So the question left unanswered is how you were poisoned, even if it did not have the wanted effect. That's easy, my dear late servant had the seemingly very difficult job to poison and effectively get rid of you that way. But he failed, poisoned the wrong person, so I will rid the world from you now, you elven scum."

The knife that he had previously hid in his boot was gone now, taken away by Glorfindel. He drew a smaller dagger out of his sleeve and jumped onto Elrond. Elrond flew to the ground by the force of the impact, Elrond held Helech's arms back a small line of blood trickled down his arm. Glorfindel drew his sword and held it against Helech's throat, one wrong move and I will cut your throat. 

Helech wasn't faced by the warning  and struggled against the tight hold. Elrond had gotten up in meantime, his body was wrecked by a violent coughing fit which forced him to sit on the chair. 

Helech's knife came dangerously close to Elrond's bowed head. Glorfindel then decided quickly and with a short move he slit Helech's throat clean through.  
Helech's lifeless body sank to the floor with a loud thud.

Helech's body was burned without making a big spectacle out of it and his ashes were brought to the Misty Mountains where they had found him. 

Elrond's fever had risen to a dangerous level again. After Glorfindel had called servants to bring away Helech's body he gathered Elrond up in his arms and brought him to the healing wing where he was nursed back to health. This time he was released from the bed when his fever had fully gone down and he had stopped coughing.

Weeks after the events Erestor and Elrond stood on a balcony overlooking Imladris. They were locked in a tight embrace and nothing could distract them from each other not even the beautiful scenery.   
Elrond turned to his advisor:"That has certainly been an adventure hasn't it?"

"Yes, love, it was indeed an adventure. One that I would not like to repeat."

Elrond chuckled at that:  
"I thought you enjoyed the raccoon hunt. Entertaining children has always been a strong point of yours. Even if you never do it on purpose."

Erestor smirked:"how do you know that I don't do it on purpose?"

Elrond looked at him flabbergasted, he hadn't expected Erestor to say *that*.

"Tea?", Erestor asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"Tea.", Elrond smiled and they both went into the house to have a calming cup of tea which definitely didn't have any poison in it this time. 

The End


End file.
